Month: October 2018

All About Non-banking Financial Companies (nbfcs)

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A non-banking financial company (NBFC) is defined as a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and indulges in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares/stocks/bonds/debentures/securities issued by the government or any local authority or other securities of marketable nature, leasing, hire-purchase, insurance business, and chit business. However, it does not include any institution whose principal business is that of agricultural activity, industrial activity, and sale/purchase/construction of immovable property. An NBFC basically does work similar to that of a bank without actually meeting the legal definition of a bank.

So, if NBFCs function in a way similar to a bank, then how are they any different? Heres a list of their different aspects:

(i) NBFCs cannot accept demand deposits, which are funds deposited at a depository institution that are payable on demand, much like your current or savings bank accounts.

(ii) Deposit insurance facility of DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation) is not available for NBFC depositors, which is not in the case of a bank.

It is mandatory under Section 45-IA RBI, 1934 for every NBFC to register with the RBI as it regulates the working and operations of NBFC within the framework of the RBI Act, 1934 and the directions issued under this Act. A company that registers as an NBFC under the RBI should have a minimum net owned fund of Rs. 2 crore. Registering with the RBI involves the submission of an application by the company in the prescribed format along with necessary compulsory documents. If and when the bank is satisfied that the conditions are fulfilled, it issues a Certificate of Registration to the company. Once an NBFC holds a valid Certificate of Registration, it can hold public deposits. However, the NBFCs that accept public deposits should comply with the Non-Banking Financial Companies Acceptance of Public Deposits Directions, 1998, as issued by the Bank.

There are four different types of NBFCs, each having different functions:

Equipment leasing companies

Hire-purchase companies

Loan companies

Investment companies

Rules and regulations are part of every firm and deal. It is always important to read the fine print of any document before signing it. NBFCs have their own set of regulations. The following regulations are considered important to the depositor at the time of investment.

NBFCs are allowed to accept or renew public deposits for a minimum period of 12 months and a maximum period of 60 months. They cannot accept deposits repayable on demand.

NBFCs are not allowed to offer gifts/incentives or any other additional benefits to the depositors.

Deposits with NBFCs are not insured.

The repayment of deposits by NBFCs is not guaranteed by the RBI.

Offshore Banking

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Offshore banking has always been associated with an organized crime and underground economy, via money laundering and tax evasion. However, in terms of legality, the offshore banking does not prevent the assets from being the subject to a personal income tax in interest. There is a lot of offshore banking companies that you will find today’s market and they are all offering services that are beneficial to you as a business owner. There are some persons who meet with the complex requirements. In most countries, the personal income tax makes no distinction between the interest earned in the local banks and those who are earning abroad.

Although some of the offshore banks have decided on not reporting income tax to other tax authorities, and they have no legal obligation in doing it because they are under the protection of the bank secrecy. This also does not make non-declaration of the income by tax-payer or evasion of tax on that legal income. All those who are outside the country can freely secure their money on the offshore bank without worrying of other legal matters. In 2001, there have been a lot of calls asking for regulation on the international finance, particularly concerning the offshore banks and tax havens.

An offshore bank is somewhat a bank that is located outside your country of the depositor’s residence this is typically in a place of low tax jurisdiction that provides legal and financial advantages. These advantages also include: strong privacy, no or low taxation, easy access on deposits and protection against the local financial, and political instability. Anyone is free to make their own offshore banking anywhere they want. Since this is legal, the depositors have no other obligations in their country to make their offshore banking successful. A lot of people including the business owners are considering the offshore banking because they feel more secure in this type of banking.

You can do offshore banking regardless of the location for as long as you understand their regulations. When it comes to privacy, you can have your very own privacy in offshore banking. The bank also understands the needs of their depositors that are why they made the regulation of keeping all their depositors personal information strictly in private. The bank has no right in giving your personal information to anyone. Before you make your offshore banking, you need to make sure that you first check if this bank is accredited and respected AA credit rated by the international bank. This is the only way you can ensure that your investment or assets are protected and secured.

If you want to protect your savings, you can always consider offshore banking. It is easy, just find an accredited offshore bank and make your deposit. It is very important that you also find a bank that has a low taxation, so you can save more of your savings. This is the reason why many people is now considering offshore banking because of the high taxation in their country. With offshore banking, you can guarantee that your savings is secured and safe.

Brazil’s Banking System

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Post global recession, the Brazilian banking model is now internationally recognized as a highly efficient system. Many attribute its recent success to the sophisticated mechanisms and regulatory systems that were created during the ‘lost-decade’ of hyper-inflation.

Nowadays, financial regulation is very conservative and was created to ensure the banks would be able to regularly stress test their processes to check and balance their activities in a variety of hypothetical unstable environments. Internal controls, limits for client exposure, loss provisions, company credit capital are all closely and strictly monitored. The following practices are also worth highlighting:

– The minimum Basel Ratio of the Brazilian banking system is set at 11 percent, which 3 percent higher than what is suggested in the Basel Accord. Most banks, in reality, operate much higher than this level (at over 17.5 percent) with low leverage ratios (over six times the level of their capital holdings);

– All banking limits and requirements are applied in consolidated terms which means that so called toxic assets or special investment vehicles are put under heavy scrutiny;

– All investment funds are weighted in line with their corresponding assets. This is undertaken to ensure that leverage levels are reasonable and over-exposure is kept to a minimum;

– Over the Counter (OTC) derivatives need to be registered with the Central Bank (or face legal action);

– The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (Comisso de Valores Mobilirio) legally obliges all public companies to disclose all information with regards to the financial instruments that are being used. In addition, full sensibility’ analyses are undertaken on a regular basis;

– The central bank has control over all non-financial subsidiaries of banking institutions;

– Expected loss provisions are taken into consideration (not just actual losses);

– Liquidity and market risks are monitored intensively by the Central Bank on a daily basis;

– Bank reserves must cover all debt payments past;

– All lending above the value of $BRL 5,000 must be registered with the Central Bank;

– Issue ratings are regularly undertaken;

– Regulatory procedures are applied to all banks and are also regularly updated in line with financial innovations (approved by the Central Bank), international standards and conjuncture changes.

Many commentators attributed Brazils above average resistance to the effects of the global recession to these reasons. Indeed, at the onset of the global economic crisis, the securitisation market was less than 10 percent in comparison to the credit volume of the country which meant that the intersection between the two markets did not bring any significant damage.

At the close of first decade of the 2000s, Brazil was one of only four countries in the world with a wide spread on lending, with an average at over 30 percent. Indeed, the country was awarded first place for its high regulatory standards at the 2009 Financial Stability Forum’ in Basel that “helped it avoid the worst of the global economic crisis.” As pointed by Alexandre Tombini, Director of Regulation at the Central Bank: “We are used to dealing with challenging environments at our institutions and our regulations. Everything we have done since the mid-1990s has tended to take a more cautious approach.”

Below is a list of the main banking institutions of Brazil:

Central Bank of Brazil the highest monetary authority and the country’s governing body in all matters related to finance and economics. The institution is linked with the Ministry of Finance and decides the monthly SELIC interest rate.

Banco do Brasil the largest Brazilian and Latin American bank by asset values. With its headquarters in Braslia, it is also the oldest active bank in Brazil (founded in 1808).

Caixa Econmica Federal founded in 1861 (more commonly referred to as Caixa), nowadays the bank is well known for financing the civil and construction sectors; administering the Minha Casa, Minha Vida housing programme as well as being the large stakeholder in Brazils largest property and land portal: Zap.

The Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econmico e Social or BNDES) established in 1952, it is now the second largest development bank in the world and is a federal public company associated with the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Bradesco founded in 1943, it is one of the largest banks in operation in the country (it was formerly the largest until Banco Ita and Unibanco merged in 2009).

Ita Unibanco based in So Paulo, the bank was formed out a merger of Banco Ita and Unibanco in late 2008 and now operates as the largest financial conglomerate in the Southern Hemisphere and the 10th largest bank in the world.

Banco Santander Brasil founded in 1982, with its headquarters in So Paulo, major acquisitions were made in the late 1990s and 2000s including Banco Real, Banco Geral do Comrio, Banco Noroeste and Banespa.

Banco Real a Brazilian bank that was previously owned by ABN AMRO.

HSBC Brazil in 1997 Banco HSBC Bamerindus was set up to take over Banco Bamerindus do Brasil which was subsequently changed to HSBC Bank Brasil in 1999.

Safra with its headquarters in So Paulo, the bank is part of the larger Safra Group of financial institutions.

Banco Nossa Caixa the bank was incorporated into the Banco do Brasil in 2008, formerly serving as the financial agent of the State of So Paulo.

IP Change for Safe Online Banking

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By frequent IP Change e you can make your online banking more safe. The number of business transactions made over the net these days has increased temendously. Online banking is now growing faster as compared to other financial transactions. The internet has now become a popoular avenue for banking, shopping, and financial transactions for both businesses and consumers alike. What is actually existing as internet security suites are still lacking in defense against online theft and fraud. With the introduction of a fresh technolgy using the fundamental concept of IP change as well as data encryption, online banking security now becomes even more strong.

With internet as a tool, banking now becomes faster and stress free. With internet also comes an increased risk for online theft and fraud whose number is rapidly increasing as well. Internet is inherently an insecure platform because you are simultaneously connected with world. Computer viruses, spy ware, mal ware, key loggers and a variety of other security threats have been there almost from the beginning of the widespread use of the internet. Unfortunately, there exists great programmers who are deviant and are one step farther than the current internet security industry. Thus, there always occurs a war between the cyber criminals and experts of online security. Even if there exists internet security softwares including anti virus, anti spy ware, identity theft protection software, and the like, still these are not sufficient for online banking protection.

Cyber criminals are experts in breaking firewall and if they do, all your essential records including your login password and account numbers may fall into their hands. Given this, it would be a lot easier for them to get into your network and grab the data you send via the net. With the use of wireless internet connection, everything is still dangerous even if you have an efficient internet security software.

For a safer online banking, various safety measures must be taken, such as hacker proof passwords, frequent, change of passwords and update of browser, operating software, and internet security software. Subsequently, a closer look and remedial measures at the most sensitive points for enhanced security must be taken.

In order for hackers and online banking thieves to penetrate your computer system they need to know your computer’s IP address, short for Internet Protocol Address. The IP address is actually a unique number composed of six digits depicting your concrete location via the net. Such IP address is given by your ISP (internet service provider). You can only be safe if your IP address will not be revealed to other people online. There is now a readily available technology for you to make faster IP Change. This is possible with the use of various proxy servers not having same IP addresses. With the help of software (IP Changer) you can route internet connection through these remote proxy servers and change them frequently. Thus, every time you are on the internet, nobody else can access your actual IP address. It is one of the addresses of the Proxy servers others see, thus effectively hiding your IP address. You are thus able to search the internet anonymously and securely. For further security, the information is encrypted thus making it extremely hard to be hacked between your computer and the proxy server.

So when banking online you are securely connecting to the proxy server and then on to secure servers of the bank. When you are submitting log in information or your private identifying information such as social security number and financial information it is all done securely and anonymously. This is extremely valuable and important when banking from public locations such as libraries, book stores or hotels where unprotected networks such as the wi fi are used.

Truly, there is not a 100% full proof security, but this one is the best among the recently available technologies. This small yet efficient concept of IP Change allows all these to happen.

Are Time-honoured Offline Banks Really Better Than Online Banking-00-222

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With the omnipresent internet connection, you can conveniently organize your online banking transactions from the screen of your home computer, while in your office or even as you travel . The Internet as an over-the-top technological invention has so caused life to become easier for everyone including the business community, housewives, students and professionals. Notwithstanding, this new communication phenomenon people have not stopped patronizing the usual off line banks . The traditional banks will invariably remain in existence; most people still choose to transact in an actual bank in which they feel to the highest degree comfortable and secure.

The banks that are now online though provide same services yet , they have their advantages and disadvantages and. It’s actually up to you to decide the type of bank to transact your financial affairs with. What really count s is that you should know your financial demands so as to be able to actually be on the look out for the latest tendency in the banking industry and understudy them to see how it favors you. Even if you are loyal to your usual offline bank, you may also have the need to sometimes use the online banking service for an urgent transaction or when you are where the bank is not near by .

Established banks are still making use of the traditional writing materials for banking transactions off line while also maintaining an online presence whit computer, internet connection and keyboard as the writing materials . It is obvious that everyday several people go online to introduce internet-only banking business websites that compete with the traditional banks . Though these conservative banks cater mainly to their old customers, people who should know are advising them to also open online offices to serve the internet-savvy young people and by so doing attract more customers

Security and person to person interactions are the main reasons people maintain the use of traditional banks. A lot of people feel that human contact is a necessity in any bank transaction; they want to hand their hard earned cash over to real teller .

Banking on the internet brings about the same result as with an offline bank . The important difference is the replacement of bank staff, paper and pen with your computer and internet connection for making and receiving payments and statements reconciliations . You dont really have to worry about going to your local bank branch when you can do all the things necessary to effect a bank transaction in the comfort of your home with a desktop computer or laptop and internet connection.

A principal advantage that internet banking offers people who go for online banking is cost effectiveness. Certain banks are known to charge their customers lower fees if the bank online banking services.